BlazeWind
by Andy Quinn
Summary: The Jokerz are holding a barbeque, and all of Gotham's invited. Problem is, they're the ones getting roasted. Additional summary within. PG-13 for language, violence, and some scary moments.
1. Suspicions and Doubts

**Title: BlazeWind **

**Author: Andy Quinn **

**Rating: PG-13 for language, violence, and some scary moments.**

**Additional Summary: Terry is thrown into a world of hurt when an evil entity possesses one of his classmates. Problem is, only a hella-powerful psychic can pull the entity out without damaging the human's mind. Luckily, he just happens to know one. Evil plot twist of the day: The possessed classmate is the psychic's boyfriend and the entity is her father, trapped in her mind to keep him from seeking revenge on his three ex-wives - and the rest of existence. (Possible title change to: _All My Batchildren, The Batty and the Beautiful, As the World Gets Sucked Into Darkness But Somehow Still Manages to Turn. _I'm going to pun hell for that.) As you may have guessed already, involves OCs.**

**Note: Yes, I know, OCs are evil, but I couldn't help it. They're good characters, really. I promise. No Mary-Sueness involved, I swear to you they rendered many the Joker unconcious before Terry trusted them. Bruce just kind of puts up with them because they kick ass. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Batman Beyond or any related media, except maybe a .wav file or two, somewhere.....**

_(Psychic communication __**Psychic reply**)_

* * *

**C H A P T E R O N E - Suspicions and Doubts**

"So, come here often?" Katherine looked around the Hamilton High cafeteria.

"Uh...yeah, fairly often." His face lit up like Easter morning.

"Great." Katherine smiled bemusedly as the guy sat across from her. She looked him over quickly: Dark brown hair to his shoulders, smokey gray eyes, definately taller than her (who wasn't?) and slightly muscled. A scar ran up his left bicep and under the sleeve of a black shirt that looked like silk. A blood-red vest screamed at her against the dark background. In a word: Darkly yum. "Hey," he said with a grin. "I'm in ROTC."

"Really." She was not enthused. He, however, was.

"Yeah! I'm a lieutenant colonel." She stood. All the yum in the world couldn't make up for this.

"That's great. Look, I'm really, really sorry, but I gotta go meet someone." She started to walk past him. He seemed crestfallen.

"Wait! I haven't recited Shakespeare for you yet!"

"I'll pass." He grabbed her arm.

"You like old music? I know Green Day!" She spun on him.

"Look-"

" 'Fall in love and fall in debt / to alcohol and ciggarettes / and Mary Jane to keep me insane / doing someone else's cocaine'?" She allowed herself to be pulled, laughing, into his lap.

"Matthew, quittit." He swept her light brown hair out of the way and kissed her neck.

"Oh, get a room," Letitia complained from behind them. Leaning over his shoulder, Katherine stuck her tongue out at her dark-skinned half-sister.

"Don't put it out there if you're not gonna use it," called their Hispanic third, Alma, in a sing-song voice as she sat with her tray. Katherine narrowed hazel eyes and gave an evil grin.

"Oh, don't." Letitia sat next to Alma and shoved Katherine's tray across the table. "We're eating, here." Katherine slid into the other chair and picked up her fork, breaking of a piece of baked potato and eating it.

"So, did you ask Mr. Wayne for tonight off?" Matthew asked. Alma and Letitia shared a look.

"Ah....see, what had happened was...." he groaned.

"Katherine..."

"Oh, Matt, I'm sorry. You know Bruce is a 'brutal taskmaster'. I'm gonna ask again when I go home; surely he's not pure evil." Letitia snorted.

"Yeah, and Alma's a blonde." The taller girl turned to Letitia and responded in a thick Mexican accent.

"What, you think Hispanic people can't be blonde? You bein' racist?" They laughed and Matthew leaned over to kiss Katherine on the cheek.

"It's not _that_ important, y'know, it's just - "

"I know. Oh!" She dug in her purse for a minute and pulled out a deep red tie. "Here's your tie back; Terry says thanks."

"Tell him no problem." He tied it around his neck and stood, leaning over to kiss her briefly. "I gotta go; David's got my playbook. We're playing this weekend, remember."

"I remember. 'Basic Function at Club Gotham! Teen Night, 6:00-9:00'."

"Exactly." Smiling, he squeezed her shoulder and left.

"So," Katherine said with a grin. "Whatd'ya reckon?"

"Dibs on aunthood," Alma replied. Katherine threw an empty butter packet at her.

"I saw him hanging out with Marcellus Lodger," Letitia said mildly. Katherine glared at her.

"T, don't do the big sister thing. Marcellus' dad runs Club Gotham, Matt needed a venue. They weren't 'hanging out'."

"Love really is blind," Letitia said quietly. Katherine dropped her fork and leaned back in her chair.

"Yet you seem to be able to look past your guy's Juvi record," she hissed fiercely.

"He's - " Letitia lowered her voice to a near-whisper. "He's _Batman_, fer Chrissakes!"

"You want me to start in on _your_ choice of 'significant other' candidates? It's a _long_ list..."

"How dare you bring that up again, you - "

"Hey!" Alma set her fork down and stared at them. "At least you both HAVE boyfriends! Shut up!" They fell into a grudging silence as the bell rang and they got up to leave.

* * *

Matthew looked up as Katherine entered the Chemistry classroom. "Hey, you." He turned to the side and Katherine, laying her bag on the table slid into his lap and kissed him, a quick brush of lips. 

"Hey." With a sigh, she settled her head into his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" he asked. She shook her head, running her thumb across the beginnings of a beard on his chin.

"Nothin'."

"Katherine, your accent's thicker than mollasses. Who did what to you?" Sitting up and staring into his smoke-gray eyes, she shook her head again.

"It's...it's nothing, Matt, really." He laid a hand on her knee and squeezed gently.

"KP," he said softly. That was all he needed to say. With a sigh, she touched her forehead to his, playing with his fingers.

"It's....bit stupid, really....Letitia thinks you're hanging out with Jokerz again," she said finally. His eyes widened and he leaned back a bit.

"You...y'didn't..."

"Oh no, no no no," she assured him, taking his face in her hands. "Teesha's just doing her big sister thing, is all. Really." She kissed his forehead.

"I know," he said as the bell sounded again and Katherine moved to a separate stool. "It's just..." Reflexively, he rubbed his left arm. She saw and took his hand.

"Calm down," she whispered kindly, squeezing his fingers. "My sister's not the kind to start or spread rumors." She smiled, and he returned it, but it was feeble.

* * *

"Haven't I said no to this question already?" 

"Oh, come ON!" A couple of lines from _The Road to El Dorado_ ran through Katherine's mind before she remembered herself and fell to her knees in front of the Batcomputer, pleading. "One night, Bruce. One measly little night. Surely the Tomorrow Knight and two otherworldly Princesses can handle Gotham long enough for me to go on a date." Bruce was unmoved.

"If you wanted a social life, you shouldn't have - "

"Been born with superhuman strength, speed, and agility, not to mention heightened psychic awareness and the ability to fly?" She arched an eyebrow. "The 'Terry Lecture' doesn't apply here, I don't think." Bruce sighed and turned around.

"Why is this so important, anyway?" She grinned sheepishly. He laid his forehead in his hand. "I know that look." He turned back to the safety of his computer.

"Oh, c'mon, Old Man Wayne, surely even you were young once."

"I haven't been a kid since I was eight years old."

"I didn't say a kid, I said young." Katherine draped her arms over the back of Bruce's chair. "And need I remind you who it was you first said that to? I believe she was turned into a pig by a Greek sorceress not long afterwards." He glared at her for a moment, then it softened.

"Fine," he grumbled. "If it'll get you to be quiet."

"Whoo-hoo!" Katherine gave a victory leap and hugged Bruce's shoulders. "I'll bring you back an Extra-Chunky-Bucket-o-Love." Bruce arched an eyebrow as she ran up the stairs to get ready.

"I don't think I want to know."

**

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**

**Okies, first chapter, done. What do you think? Too much OC? Not enough OC? Kill the OC? Let me know on your way out. Reviews are loved and rewarded! Flames will be ignored unless they're REALLY creative, in that case they'll be given a firm and emphatic PFFFFFFFFFFFT! **

**- Andy Quinn -**

_**welcome to her world.**_

_**question is, are you sure you want to be here?**_


	2. Past and Present

**Yeppers, second chappie. It's the musical chappie! Yes, I have the bad habit of putting song lyrics into my fic at random moments. Like a montage thing. But at least I don't put the WHOLE FRICKIN' SONG IN!!! points at Kyoko **

**Kyoko:sticks tongue out **

**No, I don't own Batman Beyond.**

_Psychic communication _

_**Psychic reply**_

_'Lyrics'_

**

* * *

**

**C H A P T E R T W O - Past and Present**

"Can I open them now?"

"No."

"How about now?"

"No!"

".........What about now?"

"Katherine!" Laughing, Matthew pulled her forward a few more steps. "Okay, _now_ you can open them." Her eyes flew open; they were at somebody's 50th aniversary. "So whaddaya think?"

"I think we're going to stand out a bit," she said with a grin. Everyone else in the room was over 40.

"Good." He twined his fingers into hers and they entered the crowd. As they started a slow dance, Matthew murmured in her ear. "It's good to know people can stay together no matter what." She kissed him gently.

"This is great, Matt."

_KP!_

"I thought you'd enjoy it."

_Yoo-hoo, Earth to Katherine._ Katherine squinted one eye and tried to force Terry's voice out of her mind.

"What's wrong?" Matthew asked concernedly.

"Ah...nothing," she said with a quick smile. "I'm just tired, probably."

"You wanna go home?"

"No, no, let's just sit down for a while." They moved to two chairs along the wall.

"I'll get you a drink." As Matthew dissappeared into the crowd, Katherine glared at the ceiling.

**_So help me, Terry, if you're where I think you are....._**

_Well, it ain't Barbados, that's for sure._

**_Terrence Anthony McGinnis....._**

_I know, I know, I'm sorry. I have my orders._

**_Bruce's orders?_**

_Uh....yes?_ Katherine closed her eyes. A few Tetran curses ran through her mind, but she said none of them. _Nice vocabulary._

**_You don't even know what those words mean._**

_I don't have to to know what they're used for._

**_Terry, go be Batman._**

_For the record, I voiced my disapproval, but I was swiftly and forcefully overruled._

**_Forcefully?_**

_She sat on me._ She gave a small grin.

**_Go. I'll deal with my "sister" if and when I get home._**

_If?_ Matthew returned with two glasses in hand and she gave just the tiniest shake of the head.

**_Go, Ter._ **

Through the far window, she watched a dark shape take off across the sky.

**

* * *

**

_'How can you say that you never meant anything to anyone standing alone on the street with a ciggarette on the first night we met?'_ Katherine's hand joined Matthew's on the stick shift. _'When I look back I remember a smile, let's go to sleep I could sleep for a while 'cause I know in my dreams that I'll always be dreaming of you.' _He glanced over at her and smiled. _'We'll make sure this time, smiles fade in the summer, place your hand in mine, I'll leave when I wanna.'_ She reached up and pulled the ribbon from his hair. It fell in dark waves around his face. _'Place your hand in mine, I'll leave when I wanna.' _She brushed her hand through it, pushing it behind his ear. _'I'll leave when I wanna.'_ The Jokerz attacked.

Katherine's hand joined Matthew's on the stick shift. He glanced over at her and smiled. She reached up and pulled the ribbon from his hair. It fell in dark waves around his face. She brushed her hand through it, pushing it behind his ear. The Jokerz attacked. 

"Katherine!" Matthew screamed as she lurched forward in the seat; he had slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting "Mr. J". He turned to her, eyes frantic. "Are you okay? Anything broken?"

"I'm okay, I'm fine," she assured him. Her eyes darted to the windows, to the Jokerz advancing on the car. She hit the door lock. They laughed.

"Can Mattie come out to play?" Mr. J screeched in a high-pitched voice. Matthew's jaw was set.

"Katherine, please stay here." He unlocked just his door. She grabbed his arm.

"Matthew, I'm more use to you out there, where I can _do_ something." He touched her chin.

"Katherine, love, please. If you stay in here, they'll leave you alone." Tears of frustration pricked her eyes. Matthew didn't know about Mariann, and this did _not_ seem like the time to tell him.

"How do you _know?_" He pointed with his chin at the Joker now leaning on his hood.

"That's my old costume."

* * *

Thunder rumbled menacingly overhead as Matthew walked to the front of the car. The big black Joker (none other than Marcellus Lodger) went for the door, but Matthew held the remote keychain over his shoulder and pushed the lock button. He didn't turn, just spoke.

"She stays out of it." Mr. J laughed, a poor imitation of the original Joker's cackle.

"She certaintly is a pretty thing," he said fondly. Katherine saw Matthew's muscles tense.

"Careful," she whispered, lips barely moving. "Careful, Matt, don't attack him, don't get mad, oh, gods, Matthew!" Mr. J continued.

"Surely you remember what tonight is?"

"I remember." Matthew's voice had gone low and deadly.

"So, _Boss-man_, how're we doing?" The head grease-painted monkey smiled an awful smile. Lightning struck somewhere and thunder cracked the sky again.

"You're a sad excuse for a man," Matthew replied simply, "that you would ambush me at night instead of facing me head-on during the day." Mr. J was not pleased by Matthew's answer, and since Mr. J had the emotional security of a three-year-old, Mr. J decided he was going to bust something up. He lifted a piece of pipe and brought it slamming down onto the hood of the car. Katherine gave a little scream.

"You were one of us," he hissed into Matthew's face. "You planned this night, made it our dream. But you left, returned to _them_." Katherine had about decided that he was pretty well-spoken for a grease-painted monkey when he lifted the pipe again. "So now you'll suffer the same fate as the rest." He brought the pipe down hard on Matthew's arm. He howled in pain and Katherine screamed, scrambling out of the car.

"No! Stop it, damn you, no!" She ran for them but two huge Jokerz grabbed her arms. "Let me GO, you grease-painted bastards! Matthew!" She struck out at the Joker's mind with all she had, lightning struck, Matthew grabbed the pipe, Mr. J's body convulsed, Matthew's body convulsed, and Katherine screamed as her mind was hit with a force unlike anything she'd ever felt. Shooting into the air, she slammed the two Joker's heads together and headed for the rest of them, collecting their bodies in a pile. If Matthew was awake, she had some 'splaining to do. Oh well, he was bound to find out eventually. Leaving their bodies in a groaning heap, she went back to Matthew. Picking him up and loosening his fingers from the pipe (they were almost fused together), she set him gently in the car and put it in reverse, digging her cell phone out of her purse. Something was swimming through her mind; she didn't want to risk a psychic link. "Dammit, Bruce, pick up pick up pick up.....Bruce!" His voice was steady and comforting, even through the static of a shaky signal.

"Katherine, what's wrong? You just sent a psychic wave over the entire city."

"We were attacked by Jokerz. Something happened to Matthew; he's barely breathing."

"I'll tell Terry to come pick you up. Are you wearing your locator?"

"Always."

"Good. He'll be there soon."

"Bruce..."

"What?"

"Don't....don't hang up."

* * *

Matthew's eyes opened slowly. Katherine smiled. "Greetings from the land of the living."

"Katherine..." She touched a finger to his lips.

"Don't try to talk. You were badly injured." He took her hand with surprising firmness.

"Katherine, listen." His voice was weak. "Tonight's the Inferno, the burning of Gotham." Her eyes widened and she sat on the edge of the bed, leaning closer to him.

"You told me you and your Jokerz had planned a huge event. Is this it?" He nodded. "Will they go through with it without you?" Another weak nod.

"Tell the police." He went into a racking cough. Katherine waited until it had stopped to kiss him gently on the forehead.

"I'm going now. Go to sleep." He did, almost instantly. Sedatives are a wonderful thing. She stood and moved to the window. Yes, she'd tell the police. But first, a close personal friend. Carefully, she opened her mind and reached out. _Terry, meet me at the place._ Nothing happened, no pain, no weird twinges, none of the usual symptoms of a problem with her powers. Matthew's eyes slid open slowly, in time to see a pair of black sneakers and the tail end of a mahogany braid exit the window.

* * *

"Katherine." Terry - er, Batman landed on top of the Wayne-Powers building and moved towards her. "Sorry, Mariann. What's up?" Even in Batman's gruff tones, the voice was concerned.

"Matthew used to be Mr. J." The white blankness that was his eyes widened. "He almost died in a firefight with the police one night and gave it up, went home, started a band. But before he left, he wrote up a plan to burn Gotham. They call it the Inferno or the Reign of Fire, and Matt says they'll go through with it without him. It's tonight." Batman closed his eyes and laid a hand on his chin.

"So basically, the biggest terrorist act Gotham's ever seen."

"I don't know about biggest, but....yeah."

"And you're _dating_ this guy?"

"People change." He shot her a look but conceeded the point as Bruce's voice sounded loudly in his ear.

"Terry, are you with Mariann?"

"Yeah."

"Good. There's a fire at the hospital. Take her and go."

"A fire at the hospital?" Mariann's eyes shot open.

"Sweet gods, Matt!" She was sprinting across the roof and zooming through the air before Terry could stop her.

**

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**

**Cliffhangers go whee.**

**Reviewer Recognition!**

_**Because reviewers go whee too.**_

**_Kyoko Kasshu-Minamino_: For your review, I grant thee a song: Naked Terry....du du du....he's so naked....**

**Okay, the rest of you need to get your butts over here and review. **


	3. Fire and Night

**Chapter the Third reveals itself! And then runs from the police! It flashes, like Kyoko does when there's a call on the other line! (We finally broke her from saying "I gotta flash".) Bwahahaha. I own Batman Beyond. There should be a "do not" somewhere in there, shouldn't there? Ah well. Now that I'm done stealing Corisu Li's disclaimers (or at least that's what she thinks), onward to Chapter Three! I mean the Third! Whatever!**

**C H A P T E R T H R E E - Fire and Night**

* * *

"Matthew!" Mariann shrieked, bursting through a window on the third floor and blowing her secret identity all to hell. She entered rooms along the hall, gently handing the occupants out the window to Jessica and Aruma in turn. Finally reaching Matthew's room, she bit back a scream as she smoke trailing from under the bandages. Jessica came to the window and took him gingerly, carrying him to the parking lot below. Terry's voice rang in her ear: "First floor cleared."

"Second, too," came Aruma's response. "How's the third, Mari?"

"Cleared," she replied numbly. Jessica rose to the window, dark hair flowing down her back. Mariann turned to her, eyes full of emotion but empty at the same time. "You were right," she said quietly as flames licked around the doorframe. "Marcellus moonlights as a Joker; Matt was trying to convince him not to go through with it."

"So much for that," Jessica replied tersely. "Look, I'm not happy about it, okay? Now get outta there before you suffocate." Mariann floated apathetically to the window and let Jessica wrap her arm around her shoulders. The elder kissed her sister's forehead as they neared the pavement. "I love you, baby sister."

"I love you too, Jess."

"We need to go!" Terry's voice was near-frantic. "There are fires all over the city!" He gave them locations and they took to the air.

'_Now I will tell you what I've done for you.'_ Mariann saw a fireman that looked like Matthew and nearly dropped out of the sky. _'Fifty thousand tears I've cried.'_ Aruma called the water out of the pipes of an apartment building, dousing the flames and scalding the Jokerz in one go. _'Screaming, decieving, and bleeding for you.'_ Jessica pulled a lapis lazuli stone from her pocket, intending to focus her power through it and create an ice shield over the building to let it melt and douse the fire, but a Joker grabbed her ankle. In the ensuing tug-of-war, she dropped the gem. _'And you still won't hear me.'_ Terry piled the Jokerz up and dropped a net over them; Commisioner Gordon waved as he flew overhead. _'I'm going under, drowning you.'_ Mariann carried a car full of toddlers from a parking garage and dropped it on a group of Jokerz A/N:Quit looking at me like that. They deserved it. Damn punks. and grimly noticed a photographer capturing her as a sweaty, soot-covered savior. _'I'm falling forever, I've got to break through.'_ Aruma used a lone Joker as a battering ram, knocking out a row of them: Bowling for Boneheads. _'I'm going under.'_ Jessica, using the ruby quartz stone meant to call her gems to her (as opposed to carrying them all, because that would be stupid), she retrieved her lapis lazuli and muttered an incantation, spreading a sheet of ice over the entire city. _'Going under.'_ Terry saw the sheet of ice overhead, but more importantly, he saw Jessica use the last of her strength and fall towards earth in denim-clad Letitia form.

"Dammit," he growled, firing the spare rockets and and blasting towards her altitude-losing body. He folded his arms by his sides to gain speed, thrusting them outwards at the very last minute to catch her roughly. "Bruce," he said into the link. "Letitia's down for the count. I'm bringing her in."

"Alright," Bruce said. "Aruma, Mariann, keep an eye out. That ice shield seems to be doing the trick but better safe than deep-fried." Terry smirked caustically, looking down at the sleeping girl curled against his chest.

"Jokerz went on an arson spree last night, setting fire to hundreds of buildings. Twenty people died and hundreds more were injured before those responsible were caught and the fires put out by Batman and his three lovely assistants." The shot of Mariann's sooty visage appeared. Katherine 'hmph'ed and curled further into Terry's chest. Letitia was on the other side, half-asleep and using him for a pillow.

"I'll give your boyfriend one thing, KP," Terry said quietly, clicking off the news. "He's a slaggin' genius. He had the fires timed perfectly, set just far enough apart that I never could have done it on my own."

"He didn't know about us when he planned it though." Katherine stood, pulling her hair into a quick ponytail.

"Where y'going?" Terry asked.

"To see if he's awake yet." She pulled her denim jacket on and grabbed her keys. "I wanna talk to him."

* * *

"Hey, you." Katherine smiled brightly as she entered the makeshift hospital room in the school. Matthew was sitting up and staring out at the window. "I guess you're feeling better." He turned hollow eyes on her. The smile flinched. "What's wrong?"

"So this is what my daughter has become," he said softly in a voice most unlike his own. Where Matthew's was warm and kind, this voice had an edge of razor-sharp ice. It sent a cold pain down Katherine's spine; a steel knife on a December's eve. The smile fell away.

"Matthew, what are you talking about?"

"Oh, he's just my shell now," he continued in that awful voice. "You have none of your mother's grace, you know." He cocked his head. "No, no, you do, it's just that where hers is stately and pronounced, yours is quietly natural. You really are quite lucky, you know." Katherine made a final, desperate grab for the edge of sanity.

"Matthew, my mom died in childbirth. You never knew her and neither did I." Matthew laughed, a low, terrifying chuckle.

"A convincing cover story for one of this Earth, isn't it? No, your mother is hiding out in that wretched kingdom of hers, waiting for you to come save her from the big, bad, Dark King, the Wretched One, the girl's father. I have many names, you know." He stared at her with those awful, empty eyes. "Here I am, you might as well grant her wish." Katherine's eyes widened to the size of saucers as the truth washed over her; she threw her hand outwards and nearly broke his mind, but remembered that it was Matthew, too, and instead took his consiousness from him. The spell was a violent one, and she closed her eyes against Matthew's grimmace of pain at the last moment before peaceful blankness took him. Hands shaking, Katherine contacted the others.

* * *

"He's _who_?" Alma was gently shaking with anger.

"Our father," Katherine repeated quietly. "The bonafide article. Lengthy speeches, comparing me to Mother, spastic use of 'you know', the works. Somehow that bastard's possessed Matthew."

"What about the incident last night?" Terry leaned against a table. They were in the Cave. Matthew was restrained on an examining table, monitors attached to various parts of his body. Katherine recalled the fight: Mr. J and Matthew, the lightning, that wave of...whatever it was.

"Maybe," she said carefully. "But...how?"

"Come here." Bruce turned from the computer and guestured to the group. They obeyed silently, staring at the images on the giant screen. Two MRI readings were displayed, one Katherine's from when her powers manifested themselves, years and years ago, the other Matthew's from roughly five minutes ago. "Look." He pointed to Katherine's scan. The areas used were red and took up nearly half her brain: The "normal" 10, scattered areas throughout the middle, and about 20 in the rear lobes.

"So?" Letitia asked. "We know we use more of our brain than normal humans."

"Now look over here." The older man illustrated his reply by pointing to Matthew's scan. The same 20 of his rear lobes were now shaded red. Katherine arched an eyebrow.

"But what does it..." She trailed off.

"Katherine?" Terry knelt by her, staring into her downturned face. Her eyes were focused solely on the floor. "KP!" He took her shoulders.

"Stop," Alma said quietly. She knew that look. "She's inside now. She can't hear you."

Indeed, Katherine had put herself into a sort of trance, walking through her mind to the very end, the farthest back she'd gone in a long time, where she'd locked _him_ all those years ago. As she passed the locks, the walls, the barriers, she found them broken, damaged, a gaping hole in her internal prison. She pulled out quickly, dodging fragmented brick and steel.

"Sweet merciful gods," she whispered. Terry and Letitia each grabbed an arm as she swayed.

"What?" Letitia asked, staring at her. "What did you see?"

"Last night," Katherine said through gritted teeth, still glaring at the concrete floor. "Last night Mr. J came at Matthew with a metal pipe. He hit him with it at the same time I entered his mind and lightning struck. It was a one-in-a-million opportunity and it was all he needed."

"Then why didn't he go into Mr. J?" Letitia mused quietly.

"To piss me off," Katherine spat. Terry squeezed her arm gently.

"C'mere," he murmured, leading her to a chair. "He probably just passed out too quickly." Katherine gave a derisive snort. Bruce, sitting silently with his fingers interlocked, spoke suddenly.

"How do we get him out?"

Katherine sighed, slumping in the chair and laying a hand over her eyes. "Through me," she told him. "My mother imprisioned part of him in each of our minds. He played jailbreak with me. It'll take me a bit to rebuild the walls, but once I do I'll draw him out."

"Katherine." Letitia's voice held a warning. Katherine didn't look up. "Katherine!" She moved her hand and looked at her oldest sister. "Are you sure you can?"

"No, but Mother could, so..."

"That's because she's your mother. She's thrice the psychic you are." Terry paused at that. He had seen Mariann pull a 12-ton oil tanker from the bottom of the ocean. Thrice that was...scary to think about. He looked back at Katherine.

"I'm his only hope," she was saying, weakly.

"Better him than you," Alma argued. Letitia stayed silent, arms folded under her breasts, staring at the floor. Katherine stood, quietly, but with a shimmering energy about her, an undercurrent of anger.

"I am the youngest daughter," she said quietly. "I am protected and sheltered, and I thank you and appreciate the love you show for me." She looked up, jaw set, eyes flashing. "But I am also a Princess, one of the Three Guardians, and I've taken an oath to protect. From the day I was born to the day I was born again I was taught to keep everyone who did not have abilities such as mine safe from my father, because he was sure to seek vengeance, if not on me than on those I love." She swung her arm out to guesture to the cloth that hid Matthew's prostate body from view. "Ladies and gentlemen, vegneance sought and found." As she stood there, trembling with fear and range, _his_ voice sounded from behind the partition.

"Such an orator, _such _an orator."

**

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****I hate one of my own characters. Go fig. **

**Reviewer Recognition!**

**_Kyoko Kasshu-Minamino:_ Eh, who cares when you review, as long as you review. Especially since you're my only reviewer. ;-; Poopieheads. **

**And now, since this chapter was sort of short, an AUTHORESS BONUS- Everybody loves free stuff.**

**Stuff We'll Never Hear On Batman Beyond No Matter How Much It Needs To Be Said**

**Dana: Your dress is so cute!  
****Chelsea: Your dress is shorter than my locker door! Get a new dress!**

**Mary: Remember, it takes 47 muscles to frown, but it only takes 7 to draw back and bitchslap the little motherfcker upside the head.**

**Nelson: So this one time, I was thinking, and it was scary.**

**Batman: I'll castrate you with a rusty spoon.  
****Blight: But I'm not afraid of spoons.  
****Batman: But you should be afraid of rusty spoons.  
****Blight: I'm more afraid of sporks.**

**Jack: (to Ten) Just because you like a guy doesn't mean you need to hop him like he's the last chopper outta 'nam.**

**Stalker: (to Matt) Confucious say - there are three 'tards in the world. 1 - Mustard. 2 - Custard 3 - YOU, you little shit...**

**Paxton Powers: Sometimes when I'm in a difficult situation I ask, "What Would Jesus Do?" And always a little voice inside me answers, "Well, he probably wouldn't try to cram another corpse into the crawl-space, moron."**

**Chelsea: They're too short!  
****Max: The tests, or your pants?**

**Bruce: When you're in combat and everyone stops and points...there's a bomb dropping behind you.**

**Nelson: Are you threatening to threaten me?**

**Bruce: I got lung spots older than you!**

**Terry: (about Mad Stan) It's like giving a blind man a mallet and telling him to go hunt moles. **

**Bruce: I don't like…people.**

**Willie: What's a tumor?  
****Random Teacher: An irregular growth that serves no purpose, but superfluously uses resources.  
****Nelson: Like you.**

**Bruce: Failure is not an option.  
****Terry: Yeah, it's a way of life.**

**Nelson: I am the least important thing in this classroom, including the chairs and desks.**

**Max's Voicemail: I'll be back shortly, in the mean time...Welcome to my life, on your left you will see stupidity and on your right, pain and don't forget, folks, keep your head and limbs inside the tram because we're heading straight into hell.**

**Blight: I am beginning to realize that the best minds in the world cannot help me if I remove them from their skulls.**

**Nelson:(absolutely nothing)**

**Eh heh...got a little carried away there, ne? Anyway, until next time, enjoy. **


	4. Truth and Lies

**ALL-righty then. The fourth chapter. w00t. Let's go. I don't own Batman Beyond.**

**C H A P T E R F O U R - Truth and Lies**

* * *

Katherine walked quickly down Hamilton High's hallway. She looked like crap and she knew it, with her hair in a quick ponytail and wearing an old t-shirt over jeans. She was present in body only, her mind was deep inside, planning reconstruction. Brain surgery, if you will. Which probably explains why Marcellus Lodger, broken arm, cracked ribs, and all, was able to shove her against a locker one-handed, leaving her dangling and choking, books and papers scattered.

"Having a good day, freak?" he snarled. Katherine swung her legs uselessly; he was too far away to kick. _He recognized me_, she realized desperately.

"If you know who I am, then you know what I can do," she gasped, glaring. "Are you sure this is wise?"

"You won't," he said with a cocky smirk. "Not here."

"You seem awfully sure." She compressed his throat with an invisible hand. Why wasn't anyone on this hall? His eyes bulged and his mouth opened soundlessly. "I don't need the flashy stuff," she whispered as his knees buckled. "But apparently, you do."

"HEY!" Two boys came around the corner and grabbed the larger boy's broken arm. Katherine released his throat and dropped to the ground as they shoved him down the hall. He left, rubbing his throat and casting black looks over his shoulder. "Are you alright?" A boy with curly brown hair helped her up and she sighed in relief: It was John and David, members of Matt's band, that had come to her rescue.

"Yeah," she said hoarsely, massaging her throat.

"Where's Matt?" David asked, helping her gather her books. "He would have bounced that guy's head off the pavement if he'd been here."

"Yeah, and you two are usually surgically attached if you can help it," John added with a silly grin, handing her a notebook. She smiled gently. It was the truth.

"He's sick," she said quietly. The guitarist and the drummer shared a look.

"Will he be okay by this weekend?" David asked in worry.

"Should be, yeah. It's just...a bad head cold." She hated lying to them, but she didn't quite think they'd believe the truth. That's how it usually worked.

"'Kay." David hugged her around the shoulders and motioned John down the hallway. They left the Princess' avatar to seethe and fear at the same time.

* * *

"Here. Careful, it's hot." Katherine gratefully accepted the steaming tea-cup. Around noon, sore-throated and tired of sounding like a bullfrog with a hangover, she had skipped out and gone home to explain the situation (á la WordPad) to Bruce. He had disappeared into the kitchen, returning with a cup of delicious-smelling something. She sipped it slowly.

"Where'd you learn to make tea like this, Bruce?" The old man smiled gently.

"Alfred. He kept it on the stove for when I encountered similar situations." _Translation: Got his ass kicked_, Katherine thought, raising the cup to her lips to hide a smile. With some shock, she realized how long it had been since she and Bruce - or any of her housemates, at that - had sat down and talked, simply _talked_. It was always criminals and pain and CSI-type stuff. "How's the rebuilding effort coming?" Katherine was shaken out of her reverie by Bruce's voice, warm and comforting as the cup in her hand.

"Slowly," she admitted with a sigh. "The strongest walls were the inner cell; they're completely destroyed." Bruce rested his cane against the side of the armchair and interlocked his fingers.

"I've known a psychic or two in my time, and I've heard them speak of walls, but they were shields, not a physical wall." She paused at the implication left hanging in the air between them. _The infallible Bruce Wayne - okay, maybe not _infallible_, but damn near - wants ME to explain something to HIM?_ _My throat feels better now._

"When I have to keep someone out of my mind," she started, still looking carefully at her cup, "I imagine a concrete wall, reinforced with steel and brick. But when Mother trapped our father in our minds, I had to take more than my sisters. I got half, they got a quarter each. So I had to build a prision, a world within my mind, to keep such a strong personality in. You know how bull-headed I am. Multiply that by about thirty years and getting your way for three-quarters of that time and you'll have some idea of my father's persona. Not to mention the anger...lots of anger there. Anyway, I 'made' four concrete walls, reinforced with steel and brick, attached to the roof with iron bars a foot thick. Four layers of this, sealed with my own power and resolve. There are no windows, there are no doors, the only way in or out is through me. And when that electric shock hit the ground, it hit me, and him, giving him just the boost he needed to break through." Bruce was silent for a moment as Katherine sipped more tea.

"That sounded almost rehearsed," he said finally with a small smile, not revealing his true thoughts.

"You get a lot of questions in my line," she replied, voice cracking. Bruce stood and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"It's the risk you take," he said softly, and she knew he wasn't talking about the questions.

"Love sucks," she whispered in response. Leaning carefully, Bruce laid a gentle kiss on her forehead and straightened, leaving the room without another word. Katherine blinked in slight shock, twisting in her chair to watch him leave.

Bruce Wayne was the only man she knew to be a father without ever having children.

* * *

"Hey," Alma said in greeting, jogging up to Terry. "You seen KP?"

"I think she went home," he said, spinning the dial on his locker. "Said she had a sore throat."

"Damn," she grumbled. Terry looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

"What's up?"

"She's got my..." Alma trailed off as a sharp, insistent pain hit her square in the back of the head. "Ugh."

"She's got your ugh?" Terry asked with a grin. "I thought you weren't contagious. " She punched him in the shoulder and laid her forehead in the heel of her palm.

"Shut up and drive," she growled, letting him lead her out of the school.

Letitia was leaned against Terry's car with her head in her hands when they joined her.

"You too?" Alma asked grimly.

"Yeah," was her only reply.

"Maybe we're having sympathy pains."

"We're not twins."

"Neither are KP and Lance, and they have sympathy pains."

"Get in," Letitia said suddenly, sliding into the front seat. "I think I know what it might be, but I have to talk to KP to be sure."

* * *

"And you say it's only in the back of your heads?" Letitia nodded. Katherine leaned back against the headboard, legs crossed, eyes closed. "It's just his personality that's in Matt - not that that's a good thing. He needs his powers in order to take a separate form, and he's trying to call them out of you two." Terry spoke suddenly from where he was leaned against the wall in Katherine's bedroom.

"Why don't we let him?" Alma stared at him.

"Terry, not meaning, this time, to sound like a smartass, but...are you cracked?"

"Back off, Alma." Katherine uncrossed her legs and swung them over the edge of the bed. "He wasn't there last time. He didn't fight him."

"Why can't we let him take his own form so we can attack him without hurting Matthew?" Terry asked. Katherine shook her head slowly.

"He's just too strong, Ter. It took all three of us at max strength and the last of our mother's magic to beat him last time. There's just no way."

"Okay." Letitia spoke up. "We know what we _can't_ do. So what _can_ we do?"

"I'm gonna go bitch at him," Katherine said simply, standing and leaving the room.

**

* * *

**

**Bitching at people is fun. **

**_Kyoko Kasshu-Minamino_: You own. Seriously, you do. **

**_Bone White Butterfly_: YES! I have a reviewer other than Kyoko! pumps fist in the air Ahem. Tons and tons of virtual chocolate for your review. It makes me happy. I thought about the Matt/Matthew thing somewhere between Chapter One and Chapter Two, and I'm far too lazy to change it. So, for future reference, Matt McGinnis appears nowhere in this story. And. Um. I know the wholeLetitia/Jessica thing is...weird as all-get-out, but there is an explination in the story! The only problem is it's at the END of the story! So...I guess it has to be taken on faith that there is something that resemblesmethodin my madness.Again, YAY YOU. **

**So, I'm supposed to tell you something about reviewing this fic. Um...lemme see. Oh, I got it. You can review this fic. You're a reviewer. Yippee skippee. I'mAndy and I steal lines from PS2 games. I mean borrow. Without permission. Or any intention of ever returning it. Heh. Bye.**


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